Supporting Social Entrepreneurship in Colombia: Zen Naturals and F2F

In April 2015, Gabriel Maya, the CEO of a small eco-cosmetic
company called Zen Naturals, traveled from his home country of Colombia to
Washington, D.C. under Partners of the Americas’ Bavaria Entrepreneurship
Exchange program. These Bavaria Fellows won a national entrepreneurship
competition in Colombia and were then selected to travel to the United States
to meet with experts in investment, small business development, and experts in
their individual industries to gain skills, ideas, and contacts for future
growth. During his visit to Washington, Gabriel learned about the Farmer-to-Farmer program
and was able to request a F2F volunteer to visit his company in
Colombia in June 2015. Below is an interview with Gabriel Maya and his
experience working with Partners of the Americas.

Gabriel Maya and one of his suppliers

What’s your name and
title?

Gabriel Maya, CEO of Zen Naturals. My younger brother is the
marketing specialist and Director of Marketing and Advertisement.

Tell me about Zen
Naturals.  How did it start?

Our beginnings are that we wanted to create the best natural
cosmetics that have the best impact socially and environmentally for the world.
Our company started as a dream of social entrepreneurs to integrate beauty with
social causes.  We’re addressing
[the development of Colombia] in three different areas.  First, through farmer support. We are
training the farmers that supply us with raw materials to help them achieve
better quality crops so they can sell to many industries.  This helps them have better living wages,
more sustainable jobs, and improves the economy and helps their families.  The second is our community where our
manufacturing facility is located.  We
are working with single mothers in the community. We have an eight month
training process and have eight mothers working with us [who] are loyal to the
cause, the movement, and the products. The third and final part is our
consumers.  We are giving our consumers
the opportunity to give back with every purchase they make.  We not only want our products to make you
beautiful on the outside, but also beautiful on the inside.

How did you first
learn about Partners and Farmer-to-Farmer?

We learned about Partners through the Bavaria fellowship. We
won an entrepreneurship contest, so we were granted some capital and a trip to
the United States for a week, and Partners was the NGO in charge of working
with us.  We came to Partners in April where
we got many many opportunities to improve our company and improve our social and
environmental goals.

When we came here initially we had never heard of the
Farmer-to-Farmer program. When we got here, we had a meeting with
[Farmer-to-Farmer Senior Program Officer] Courtney Dunham. That’s when we
learned about [the] program and we said hey, we can actually get great things
from this and improve our company!

Who was the Farmer-to-Farmer
volunteer that you chose and what did he do during the assignment?

Our initial requirement was for a green chemist.  We chose Bruce Akers from California.  He’s worked with many green companies.  With Bruce, many good things happened.  He helped us improve our research and
development area.  He started changing
things up.  We started buying equipment,
so he gave us tips to get cheap but great equipment.  Also, he started playing with our formulas,
doing certain modifications to improve our formulations, and started to do a
great assessment about the legal requirements for the American market.

What surprised you
the most about having a volunteer?

We never had a volunteer before.  The greatest thing about having a volunteer
is that it’s a completely new world of knowledge that comes to your company,
things that you might never have had the opportunity to achieve before, and you
have people who have completely different backgrounds giving you new ideas and new
tips for your business. It’s a huge enrichment process for your company. It’s
amazing what happens before and after you have a bond with Farmer-to-Farmer.

Could you describe
some memorable moments from the experience?

Something that I always say is that I love my country,
I’m really passionate about my country. Our country has suffered many social
and violence issues.  It was funny to see
how when someone from abroad comes to your country to see has many, many ideas
or a misconception about what it is like in your country.  When Bruce came into Colombia, he thought we
were in danger all the time. But then he started seeing how things were
completely different then he thought.  Now,
Bruce Akers is actually a part of our company. 
He loved the project so much that he joined us and he’s now on the Board
of Advisors. 

What was the
impact of being a Bavaria Fellow and receiving a Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer?

The impact was huge. 
Our core business was improved 100% thanks to the Fellowship and our
other meetings with Partners.  One of the
long-term goals we have right now is getting into the American market. Farmer-to-Farmer
and the Bavaria Fellowship have helped me in this process- the fact that I am
here right now about to go into the American market is thanks to Partners, they
really opened the doors for us.  It was
great; I think we are a stronger company, with stronger goals and core values.
If it wasn’t for them, it would have taken a much longer time. It changed our
life.

How do you hope
your connection with Partners will influence your company and country?

Employees at Zen Naturals

Partners is an organization that is addressing really
important issues, one of which is poverty reduction.  Partners supports the leaders that will fight
the issues of their country.  Just in
four months in having a relationship with Partners our company has changed 100%.
We are really, really excited about our future with our company and the relationship
with Partners of the Americas.

In October 2015,
Partners of the Americas will sponsor a second Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer,
Margaret Woodward, to travel to Colombia to work as an international marketing
specialist with Zen Naturals.

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